The Buildcorp Wallaroos have claimed their inaugural series win on home soil defeating Japan 46 v 3 at North Sydney Oval on Friday night.
In front of 3391 vocal supporters, the home side scored seven tries to the visitors one penalty, with Australian Captain Grace Hamilton being named player of the match for consecutive weekends after crossing for three tries and leading the teams scoring in this match.
Buildcorp Wallaroos Head Coach, Dwayne Nestor said: “We said before the match that we wanted to make a statement and we did.
“We wanted them to be ruthless in both attack and defence and they were. Throughout the week we have been working on spacing and all the work we did in training showed tonight in how comfortable the girls were playing.
“We’ll celebrate the success of this series, give the girls some time off before we come back into camp to tidy some things up ahead of our series against New Zealand.”
The Buildcorp Wallaroos struck first in the match with the boot of Lori Cramer who took to the scorecard first before a hard and fast line-break from Grace Hamilton saw the host side ahead with a 10-0 lead.
Japan took to the scorecard next with the boot of Minori Yamamoto, adding to the visitor’s scorecard. However, Mahalia Murphy quickly retaliated and a successful conversion from Cramer saw the Buildcorp Wallaroos extend the lead 17-3 at the midpoint of the first half.
Australia continued to control possession in the latter stages of the first half with Cramer crossing for a try of her own, before Murphy then crossed again for the double letting Australia head into the sheds 27-3 at half time.
Making two changes at the break the Buildcorp Wallaroos came out firing. However, a forward pass saw a try disallowed to Samantha Treherne in the opening phases of the second stanza. A yellow card to Lori Cramer saw the Wallaroos a player down and in a hardened back and forth contest between Japan.
With Japan unable to capitalise on the one player overlap, Cramer returned to the field injecting an immediate boost in the side alongside Wallaroos debutant Christina Sekona seeing Grace Hamilton crossing over the line in quick succession, before Millie Boyle dived over the chalk and closed out the match 46-3.
As it Happened
4mins: Lori Cramer pen AUS 3-0 JPN
8mins: Grace Hamilton try Lori Cramer con AUS 10-0 JPN
16mins: Minori Yamamoto pen AUS 10-3 JPN
19mins: Mahalia Murphy try Lori Cramer con AUS 17-3 JPN
27mins: Lori Cramer try AUS 22-3 JPN
36mins: Mahalia Murphy AUS 27-3 JPN
53mins: Lori Cramer Yellow Card
66mins: Grace Hamilton try AUS 32-3 JPN
70mins: Grace Hamilton try Lori Cramer con AUS 39-3 JPN
72mins: Millie Boyle try Lori Cramer con AUS 46-3 JPN
Match Notes
Buildcorp Wallaroos first series win on home soil
Christina Sekona Test Debut – Wallaroo #176
Grace Hamilton scores hat-trick of tries.
Buildcorp Wallaroos
1. Emily Robinson (17. Liz Patu 40mins), 2. Averyl Mitchell (16. Ashley Marsters 52mins), 3. Eva Karpani (18. Christina Sekona 64mins), 4. Michaela Leonard, 5. Alisha Hewett (19. Rebecca Clough 64mins), 6. Millie Boyle, (vc), 7. Emily Chancellor (20. Shannon Mato 64mins), 8. Grace Hamilton (c), 9. Cobie-Jane Morgan (21. Georgia Cormick 40mins), 10. Trilleen Pomare (22. Arabella McKenzie 62mins), 11. Lori Cramer, 12. Ariana Hira Herangi, 13. Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea, 14. Samantha Treherne, 15. Mahalia Murphy (23. Mhicca Carter 61mins)
Japan
1. Sachiko Kato (17. Yuka Igarashi 52mins), 2. Maiko Fujimoto, 3. Saki Minami, 4. Wako Kitano (18. Ayano Sakurai 60mins), 5. Kie Tamai, 6. Misaki Suzuki (22. Moe Nagaoka 62mins), 7. Kyoko Hosokawa, 8. Maki Takano (19. Ayano Nagai 68mins), 9. Moe Tsukui (21. Megumi Abe 48mins), 10. Mana Furuta, 11. Komachi Imakugi, 12. Ayaka Suzuki, 13. Hinano Nagura, 14. Minami Shikao (20. Eriko Hirano), 15. Minori Yamamoto (23. Ria Anoku)
